A few comments and observations from the
BUCS held over the weekend. This is the
most prestigious championships for students in the UK and this year attracted a
record entry with 550 competitors. The
Male Dan grade Kata alone attracted 74 entries and the Female Dan Grade Kata 55
entries – an unprecedented entry even with restrictions of only three
competitors per institution per event!
Two unusual events occurred in the kata section, the first involving Team
Kata run to WKF Rules and the other the Female Intermediate (Brown Belt) kata
not to WKF rules.
The first interesting decision we had to
make was in the Bronze final for the Team Kata with thirteen teams competing where
Bunkai is a mandatory requirement. The
senior Euro Kata Refs for the Tournament had to be convened to come to a decision
on an incident that does not appear to be explicitly stated in the WKF rules and is slightly ambiguous. This Commission comprised Steve Coupland from
England (Chair & Senior Euro Ref), Rab McQueen from Scotland (Euro Ref),
Peter Bibby - England (Euro Judge), Brian Jarvis – England (Euro Judge) and
myself - England (Euro Judge).
We were each asked in turn what we thought
the decision should be based on our understanding of the WKF Rules. Two of us thought immediate Disqualification
and two thought that the belt falling off during Bunkai performance was acceptable
and that the Disqualification requirement only related to the kata itself – I
will not state here who thought Disqualify and who thought go to Hantei.
We therefore had a 2-2 and at this point
decided to look at the exact wording of the WKF Rules.
The Rules actually state ‘Belt falling off during the performance of
kata’ so not exactly explicit.
Is ‘kata’ just the kata itself or the kata and bunkai i.e the whole
package?
Again we were asked if this changed our
opinion and again we were exactly evenly split 2-2. Steve as Chair and Chief Referee for the
tournament therefore rightly took the casting vote which was to allow the belt
to fall off and therefore go to ‘Hantei’ or Decision with flags as normal.
This the Judging panel duly did and the
vote went 5-0 to the team whose belt fell off in the Bunkai – they were by all
accounts the much better team performance so perhaps justice had been done.
The second interesting kata incident
involved the Brown Belt Kata where a really good kata performer came up and
performed the little-seen at tournaments Shiho Kosokun. This kata is specific to Shitoryu and is
effectively performed in a straight line.
It is a version of Kosokun Dai (Shotokan Kanku Dai & Wado Passai)
specifically developed for performance in front of the Emperor of Japan so as
not to present the Emperor with the performer’s back.
I myself have done this kata many times
but still always have to think hard about which way to do the first Shuto Uke –
to the right or to the left. If you go
one way but not the other, the kata does not work at all and you end up facing
the wrong way for the Nidan Geri at the climax of the kata.
Well guess what – this competitor clearly
had the same problem as me and started off doing the kata. Sitting in Judge 1 Chair I immediately
thought – she’s gone the wrong way but I was not certain until a few moves in
when she realised that she was wrong and I also realised that she was
definitely wrong. Credit to her, she did
not show it in the performance end kept going to the end where she duly
performed a really good Nidan Geri but to the rear. She subsequently turned and returned to the
Yoi position to face the front not giving anything away.
We were about to go to Hantei and I called
the Judges in. I explained what had
happened, that the WKF Rules state that school variations are allowed, that she
had probably made a mistake in setting off the wrong way, but that we could not
be sure – this may be the way she has been taught the kata – unlikely but
possible! I asked the two rear judges if
she showed anything in her face as recognition as she turned at the end and
they said not. We therefore went to
Hantei and she clearly won 5-0.
The Brown Belt category she was in allowed
repeats but not consecutively. In other
words the competitors could do for example; Bassai, Seienchin, Bassai but not
Bassai, Bassai, Seienchin.
The next round this competitor again
sailed through – she really was very good.
However, in the next round she chose to guess what………..repeat the Shiho
Kosokun.
This time she came out and stormed through
it but started the right way this time and ended up doing the Nidan Geri to the
front and finishing entirely correctly.
Just as we were about to go to Hantei, I
again called the Judges in. My view was
that she should be ‘Binned’ (Disqualified) since she had performed two kata
with the same name, from the same school in two completely different ways. The other Judges were split so we called
Steve over and explained the situation to him.
He concurred and regrettably we had to disqualify her - a real shame! The young lady accepted her ‘fate’ with
magnamity – she knew she’d been rumbled but did a real good job at concealing
the mistake.
Myself along with Brian Jarvis, Dona Marshall, Penny Williams, Tont Dent, Tracey Archer, Peter Bibby, Ivor Thomas & Nigel Langson
This could so easily have been avoided by
applying WKF Rules in that no repeats are allowed – after all they are Brown belts
and five different kata should not be beyond a brown belt.
Which way is the correct way to start the
kata – Shuto to the right or Shuto to the left – I’ll leave you to work that
one out……
Reffing a final of the Team Kumite on the Saturday with Peter BibbyJ3
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